BACKGROUND
Msafara – Caravan of Aspiration is an extraordinary journey across Africa aiming to discover young leaders and inspire tens of thousands of brilliant innovative ideas across the continent. Inspiring events will be coupled with on-and-off-line peer-to-peer mentorship and group seed-funding enabling the aspiring youth to put their talent to use. Msafara currently plans to pilot these activities in Kenya and Tanzania.
This ambitious project will provide the largest ever sustainable talent realizing platform, where peer to peer African leadership/mentorship can take place. In short, this project seeks to unlock Africa’s youth and inspire a continent. In fact, this project seeks to inspire an entire generation in Agriculture, Environment, Science, Business, Sports, Governance and Arts. To realize our dream we picture a road show from Cape Town to Cairo, from Dakar to Dar Es Salaam. The Caravan (Msafara in Ki-Swahili) - that age-old way of African travel - would stop in capitals and rural hotspots throughout the continent to deliver inspiration-orientated events.
OBJECTIVE
Development of an interactive and captivating website with relevant functionalities and applications customized for a youthful audience. The website will contain information about the Msafara project, its activities, partners, key stakeholders and other relevant information.
An online tool for engagement with young people where they can participate in meaningful discussions and gain inspiration from the content developed on the platform.
TASK METHODOLOGY
The task involves development of a website that can be used to communicate Msafara online as well as be used as an interactive tool to inspire and engage with young people. Specific tasks are:
Task 1: Prepare an inception meeting report and work plan
The consultant will hold an inception meeting with the Msafara team to (i) review and discuss the process for conducting the assignment, (ii) determine roles and responsibilities (iii) identify preliminary background information related to the assignment (iv) finalize a draft work plan and timetable. The final work plan and an inception report will be prepared by the Consultant within one week of the meeting, and submitted for review, feedback and approval. The work plan will guide this assignment to facilitate timely completion of all tasks and satisfactory end results.
Task 2: Acquire domain name
The consultant will obtain a domain name as per client’s request and register it for two years initially. This task will include secure hosting and maintenance for same period.
Task 3: Create a comprehensive website
The consultant will design, develop and deploy a comprehensive website as a strategic communication, information sharing and knowledge management tool, ensuring its optimal interactivity, usability and content retrieval. The design profile of the website will be shared in terms of a brand manual to be followed by the consultant.
Features of Website
- Responsive website layout design
- Videos embedded on website (streaming from YouTube)
- Photo gallery (Flickr)
- Social media embedded on website (links with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc)
- Registered member-area: access to materials and forums for interactions
Task 4: Regular content updates during pilot period
The consultant shall be responsible for updating the website by uploading videos and content to the website during the pilot period which runs until December 2015. The consultant will then have at least quarterly updates until the end of December 2016.
Task 5: Documentation and Training
The consultant will develop proper documentation of the platform all through the assignment and design training for project staff on the use of the system developed.
Task 6: Monitoring and Reporting
The consultant will be responsible for monitoring, maintaining a record of and reporting to the project team on data or patterns of website traffic, traffic on specific parts of the website and use of content, downloads, etc. This will be important in showing us what parts of the website are most useful to the target groups, how long they stay on the website and what content they find useful. The information will be used for continuous improvement of the website and inform any subsequent changes to the website design. The reporting will be on a monthly basis during the pilot period which runs until December 2015. The reporting will then be required at least quarterly until the end of December 2016.
TARGET AUDIENCE
- Core project beneficiaries: The main target audience is young people aged 15-24. The materials will be essential in capturing their attention and getting participation and interest in the project.
- Development partners: Donors, CSOs and other partners working in the youth sector. The promotional materials will be used to generate interest and get more partners to support and participate in the project.
- General public: To raise awareness on Msafara and get people talking on Msafara.
SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
Msafara Project intends to select a contractor to carry out designing, development and commissioning of the Msafara website. This will entail registering a domain name and completing a design of the website. The basic objective of this exercise shall be to have an interactive online platform with linkages to various social media platforms.
COPYRIGHTS
Copyrights for all materials, content and output associated with this project will be fully reserved by Oxfam – Pan Africa Programme.
DELIVERABLES
1) Inception report and work plan
2) Domain name registered for 2 years as per client requirements (including secure hosting)
3) Initial design for input for client
4) Regular updates for project period until December 2015
5) Final website approved by client
6) Website Documentation
7) Maintenance – at least quarterly until the end of December 2016
TIMELINE
We intend to have the task done IMMEDIATELY (in October 2015) hence applicants are highly encouraged to confirm immediate availability in their applications. Actual timeline will be developed after discussion with the selected contractor. Sufficient time will be allocated to ensure content is relevant and brings about the desired results.
QUALIFICATIONS
The contractor should have previous experience of creating, developing and maintaining online platforms/websites for organizations implementing similar type of projects for a period not less than three years. The team leader should have professional qualifications in Information Technology with exposure to multimedia applications.
The website content will be developed in collaboration and consultation with Msafara team.
HOW TO APPLY:
Interested candidates are required to submit the following:
- A technical and financial proposal on how you will carry out the assignment.
- CV/organizational profile and two references (preferably former clients)
- Samples of previous work
EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
All interested parties should submit their applications by email to info.nairobi@oxfamnovib.nl
The application subject line MUST be marked: MSAFARA WEBSITE
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further reviews.
